


Brownie Thief

by nepenthe_writer



Series: WinterIron Bingo [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mystery, Theft, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 15:58:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19704676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: Someone has taken something that belongs to Bucky and he's going to find out who did it





	Brownie Thief

**Author's Note:**

> Square: G5 - Confession for the WinterIron Bingo

It was hard to scare a house full of superheroes. They spent their living battling aliens, super villains, and the occasional giant rodent determined to eat it’s way through downtown New York. It shouldn’t have phased any of the members of the Avengers for one of their own to be in a bad mood. That should have been a normal Tuesday afternoon, especially if Clint had initiated one of his infamous pranks wars. Should have were the operative words however.

The Avenger in question with the bad mood that was putting everyone else on edge was the Winter Soldier. With a terrifying scowl and a murder strut that could send even the most hardened superhero running for the hills, everyone had collectively decided to stay out of his way until whatever it was that was bothering him had been worked out. Hopefully with as little bloodshed as possible. It was incredibly difficult to get blood out of the carpet and Tony was tired of replacing the carpeting every other month just because some people, Clint, didn’t know how not to annoy the Black Widow when she was trying to have a relaxing cup of tea and read a new book that she had just purchased.

As it was, no one was quite sure why Bucky was in a mood and no one really felt like being the one to take one for the team and be the first to ask and potentially end up with a knife to the gut for bothering him when he so clearly wanted to be left alone at that point.

That didn’t stop Clint and Sam from wondering and speculating as they sparred in the middle of the gym. Just because they didn’t want to go looking for trouble to poke it with a stick didn’t mean that they weren’t willing to defend themselves from trouble if it came looking for them.

When they were finished and climbing out of the boxing ring the two fighters looked up to see the Winter Soldier standing in the middle of the gym, arms crossed, and scowl planted firmly on his face. There was no question that it was the Winter Soldier staring them down and not Bucky, Steve’s best friend. There was no mercy to be found in those ice blue eyes for the one that had dared to cross his path and invoke his anger.

“Which of you two was it,” the soldier growled sending shivers down the other two men’s spines.

Clint and Sam exchanged glances daring the other to be the one to answer the question and eventually it was Sam that lost the staring match.

“Which of us was what?” Sam asked. “I know you think whatever is bothering you is obvious to everyone but it isn’t and we need you to use your words and explain it to us.”

“The brownies are gone,” Bucky growled, sending a death glare in Sam’s direction. “ _My_ brownies are gone. _Someone_ ate them.”

Sam’s brows furrowed in confusion as to why that would be upsetting the normally unflappable super soldier. “Aren’t brownies meant for eating though?”

The glare that Bucky threw at Sam got fiercer making the para-rescue take a step back and hold up his hands in surrender.

“They were my brownies that I made,” Bucky responded. “They weren’t for just anyone to eat. I made them special and one of you took what didn’t belong to you and when I find out who it was I’m going to make sure that they learn how to respect other people’s property.”

With that Bucky turned on his heels and stomped out of the gym just as Tony was coming in, walking close enough that their shoulders brushed against each other as they passed by. Tony looked back over his shoulder at the retreating super soldier in confusion. He had been down in his lab for the past four days in a row on an inventing binge, grabbing cat naps on his couch when he couldn’t see straight anymore, and had just found his way up to the common floor just a few hours ago right before Bucky’s mood had taken a turn for the worst and hadn’t run into the man until just then.

“What’s up with Snowflake?” Tony asked as he joined the huddle in the middle of the gym. 

“Apparently someone ate his brownies and now he’s on the warpath to figure out who it was,” Sam answered shaking his head. “Man I wouldn’t want to be that person when Barnes figures out who it was.”

Tony swallowed hard and looked at the door that Bucky had left through. “So do you really think he’ll figure out who it was?”

“Dude,” Clint chided. “He was like a super assassin trained by Hydra and it’s not like there are that many options about who could have eaten the brownies. There are only so many people that have access to our floors after all. Whoever it was better start planning their funeral right now because I give it until the end of the day before they’re nothing but a smear on the sidewalk and a distant memory.”

“Yeah, no, you’re right. You don’t mess with another man’s baked goods,” Tony chuckled nervously as he backed towards the door.

Turning on his heels Tony headed back out of the gym at a fast clip, all thoughts of stretching out some aching muscles forgotten as he made his way back down to his lab where he could more easily defend himself from super assassins bent on avenging their missing baked goods. He could only hope that five fully functioning Iron Man suits plus all of the new weapons and toys that he had been making for the team would be enough to slow down the super soldier if he came Tony’s way.

Tony paced around his lab nervously as he bit his lower lip and worried at it trying to come up with a way to get himself out of his current predicament. He hadn’t known that the brownies were Bucky’s when he had gone and helped himself to some of them. It wasn’t like it was uncommon around the tower for someone to bake or cook something in large quantities given the appetites of the people that lived here and leave the extras lying around for anyone to help themselves to. It was just the way things worked around here. Plus the smell of just baked chocolate was more than enough to tempt him after four days of nothing but DUM-E’s smoothies.

Unfortunately no one had told Bucky that food left unattended on the common floor was fair game or he had just expected everyone to respect his things because there hadn’t been a note anywhere saying for people to keep their hands off. That and the smell had just been far too tempting for Tony to resist. The scent of warm chocolate of drawn him in like a moth to a flame and before he knew it he had already eaten a quarter of the brownies before he had been able to make himself stop. They were just so good and only the risk of making his stomach explode in chocolatey goodness had been able to make him not pick up another bite.

Now looking back on it, the fact that there had been so many to begin with should have clued him in that they must have been the work of a super soldier given their higher metabolisms and their need for higher calorie intakes than the rest of the team. If only he had hunted down who the brownies belonged to and asked permission before digging into them than he wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place. Now he needed to come up with some kind of strategy to get him out of the country before Bucky could find him or Clint would be right, he’d be nothing more than a smear on the ground after the soldier got done with him.

Tony was brought out of his pacing when the doors to his lab swung open revealing the last person that Tony wanted to see in that moment. Striding into the lab, full murder strut on display, was the Winter Soldier in all of his furious glory. Under almost any other circumstances Tony would be taking this opportunity to soak in all of the wonderful sight before him but this wasn’t any other circumstance. This was his impending death finally here.

Tony wasn’t sure how but Bucky must have figured out that he was the one to have eaten the brownies and had come to exact his revenge leading Tony’s knees to feel like overcooked pasta for less then bedroom like reasons that he would have normally felt in the other’s presence. Not one to back down even in the face of certain doom Tony couldn’t stop his mouth from running away with him.

“What brings you down to my humble abode Snowflake?” Tony asked trying to gauge just how painful his death would be and how long he might have to update his will one more time.

“Someone stole something from me,” Bucky growled, eyes focused intently on the man standing in front of his confirming to Tony exactly why the soldier was there. “I want your help figuring out who it was.”

Tony blinked twice as the words sunk in. Bucky may be standing in front of his right now but apparently he hadn’t come to kill him. Not yet anyway. Tony still had a chance to send the man on a wild goose chase and run like crazy and hope that it was enough.

“What makes you think that I can help you?” Tony asked hesitantly as he tried to edge around his work desk to put the furniture between the two of them. “You’re the master assassin here. I’m not sure how my measly skills could possibly compare if you can’t find out who stole your brownies all on your own.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow and took a menacing step closer. “You are the one with access to all of the surveillance footage of the entire tower. It would be of no issue for you to look back and see who it was that stole my brownies before I was done with them. Though I am curious, how did you know that it was brownies that were stolen? I never said what I needed your help with.”

Tony’s eyes widened comically big as he realized the slip of his tongue and quickly tried to backtrack and save himself from the hole he hadn’t even known he had dug.

“Well you see, Clint and Sam might have mentioned it to me when I was down in the gym a little while ago,” Tony hedged, sliding to the side, moving farther away from where Bucky was standing.

That wasn’t a deterrent to the soldier however as he started working his way around the desk to Tony’s side, closing the distance slowly and surely.

“No,” Bucky said decisively, frowning as he watched Tony’s expression. “That’s not the only reason is it? How did you know that it was brownies in particular that were taken?”

Tony gulped as Bucky took three large steps in quick succession and backed him up into a corner where he couldn’t continue to retreat from.

“Well I may have been in the common room earlier and there may have been a plate of brownies unattended that I might have helped myself to one or two of,” Tony confessed, looking up at the intense stare of the super soldier looming over him.

“And how did they taste?” Bucky purred as he leaned in, their faces now mere inches apart from one another.

Knowing that he was well and truly caught, his death seconds away, Tony saw no reason for holding back anymore.

“Actually they were delicious so if you’re taking any final requests before murdering me over a few baked goods I’d actually like one more please,” Tony squeaked.

Bucky’s smirk turned into a wide grin on his face as he leaned back giving Tony more space to breathe in.

“Good. I am glad that you liked them,” he said decisively. “I made them for you.”

Tony blinked twice as he tried to make sense of Bucky’s words as though the other man had lapsed into a different language.

“Huh?” he said eloquently.

“I made them for you Sugar,” Bucky said slowly, enunciating each word. “I know you’ve got a sweet tooth a mile wide and nothing else I was doing was getting it across that I was sweet on you so I thought I’d try brownies. Didn’t like it all that much that someone was taking something that I made for you but if you’re the one that was eating them than all I want to know is if you liked them or if I need to work on the recipe.”

“I, uh, I liked them. Yeah. They were good, really good,” Tony stumbled over his response as everything started clicking together in his head. All the time that Bucky had spent with him lately. All the flirting and sideways glances. Suddenly it all made so much more sense and Tony couldn’t stop the faint blush staining his cheeks. “Thank you. Sorry I didn’t notice before. I’m not all that good on picking up clues that people actually mean it when they’re flirting with me if I’m not the one initiating it.”

“Well now that you know, I don’t think that will be too much of a problem now. Do you?” questioned Bucky as he leaned in again, lips brushing against the shell of Tony’s ear.

Tony shivered and his legs trembled for an entirely different reason than before. “Not a problem at all,” Tony agreed.

Tipping his head to the side Bucky caught Tony’s lips in a slow, chaste kiss. Neither were in any rush to deepen the kiss or push for more as they just took in the moment to enjoy what they had.

Stolen kisses after a confession of stolen brownies. It may not have been the most conventional of ways in order to reveal feelings to another but they weren’t conventional people to start with. This way seemed far more fitting and Tony didn’t regret it for a moment. Delicious brownies and a boyfriend all in one. He couldn’t ask for anything better as he leaned into the kiss even more.


End file.
